Quantitative Evaluation of Coronal Magnetic Field Models Using Tomographic Reconstructions of Electron Density

We introduce a new quantitative approach for assessing the quality of coronal magnetic field models. The method compares the location of the magnetic neutral line at a specified height in the magnetic field model with the locations of localized density peaks in the coronal electron density, as measured using coronal rotational tomography. This approach is flexible to the presence of pseudostreamers in the coronal magnetic field, as well as folds in the streamer belt. We present an example application during mid-2010 when the white-light streamer-belt structure is complex and the emergence of a large active region on the far side of the Sun presents a challenge for modeling the coronal magnetic structure.

Automated summary

We introduce a new quantitative approach for assessing the quality of coronal magnetic field models. The method compares the location of the magnetic neutral line in the magnetic field model with the locations of localized density peaks in the coronal electron density.